I call it Uplink
by Brainiac5
Summary: I'VE HAD IT! I looked everywhere for an Exo-Force section, so I'm plopping my work here. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, this story takes place during the invention of Uplink when Ryo is sick of being left out. R&R, it's good, I promise!
1. One of those Days

A/N: Well, I feel this deserves a bit of explanation. I was searching one day for Exo-Force fics and realized, to my utter surprise and horror, no one had any. I am an avid fan of Greg Farshte, the amazing writer who does many of Lego's stories, both for their exo-force books and he writes all of their Bionicle books-- except the first three, they're by CA Hapka.

yeah, I'm a nerd.

Anyway, I was looking and looking and didn't find any exo-force stuff so I decided I'd write a whole bunch, until fanfiction HAD to give me a section, or something like that. However that works. I mean, Exo-Force is technically a game(online) a Comic, and a Book! Something must be done to make sure such a wonderful addition is made to this lovely online facility. Soooooo enjoy my little fic about Ryo, the amazingly awesome engineer who I love. (To write about 'cuz he's fun)

This is probably OOC, but since this is the first fic of it's kind, who's goanna know?!

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**Chapter 1: One of those days**

It was shaping up to be another one of those days, and Ryo hadn't even had breakfast yet. Of course, that's assuming he _wanted_ breakfast. Sighing, the teenage techie plunged a spoon into the 'slop', as it was called. True, it was a chock-full of beneficial nutrients, proteins, carbohydrates and energy boosting supplements specifically provided to be eaten in a hurry-- but that was only if you could choke it down past your gag reflex. Frowning, Ryo stirred the slop slightly, glaring suspiciously at the little lumps that floated to the surface.

A tray thunked down next to his, and Ryo glanced up, his eyes meeting those of Hikaru-- the top Exo-force pilot, and self-proclaimed 'brilliant leader'. True, he had good strategy plans, but they wreaked havoc on Ryo's --no, Exo-force's-- battle machines. "Hey Ryo, the _Stealth Hunter_'s moving kind of slow. And it feels… off balance. Maybe the stabilizers need tweaking. You should check it out," Hikaru said, shoveling slop into his mouth rapidly before glancing at him with concern. "What, aren't you hungry?"

_Tweaking?_ Ryo thought, _Tweaking?! Tweaking is what _**you** _call it. Fixing a battle machine is a delicate balance of minute adjustments, carefully completed to bring the complex machine back up to it's optimal performance ratio. _**Tweak**,_ indeed._

Hikaru snapped his fingers in Ryo's face. "Hello?" He said, "You awake?"

"What?" Ryo said, suddenly pulled back into the real world.

"I said the _Stealth Hunter _needs fixing," Hikaru said, "It's doing strange things."

"Like what?" Ryo asked, resigning himself to listening.

"Well, it just doesn't feel right. It slips way too soon when I roll even slightly, and it's engines sound like a blender trying to grind a chunk of cement."

Ryo frowned. "Did you take it out of first gear?"

Hikaru frowned. "What gear? It doesn't have any gears."

Ryo rolled his eyes. "It was just upgraded yesterday. It's almost ready for combat, I was just adding a few finishing touches. First gear isn't meant for flying very high. Speed is third gear. You need a Delta code to activate…" he frowned, realizing the Exo-Force Pilot had stood and was walking away.

"Change it back!" Hikaru snapped, louder than was necessary. "You're making it too complicated."

"I'm making it _practical!!_" Ryo shouted. "Unless you _want_ it to be a useless hunk of scrap metal!!"

Hikaru spun around. "It was fine how it was!"

"It was a non-efficient, fuel-wasting, un-maneuverable, inefficient high-class-looking worthless pile of scrap metal!!" Ryo yelled back. "AS IT WAS, STEALTH HUNTER COULD'VE STOOD FOR _Silly Technical Engineering And Lackluster Turbo Hikaru's…um... Hopelessly Useless Never Terminating Evil Robots_ BATTLE MACHINE!!" With a snort, Ryo exited the mess hall, door slamming behind him.

"Nice acronym for on the spot." Hikaru mumbled to Takeshi another pilot, who nodded absently.

Yes… It was definitely one of those days.

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"Tweak the stabilizer, my foot. The stabilizer's fine. But this power converter… ack! It's practically melted itself to these other wires…" Ryo muttered, tearing components out of the Stealth Hunter. "What is this doing here --it was supposed to be-- he must have tried to fix it on the field… it's _ruined!!_ Arrg!!" Ryo grabbed his hair and pulled… hard. "Ow!" He exclaimed, frowning. "Headaches _and_ ruined battle machines… Stupid thing. Why is it…" Ryo pulled a few more things out. Screaming in frustration, he tore out all of the wires and re-wired the entire thing. By the time he had finished, he'd calmed down enough to know he'd acted like an overgrown toddler. He frowned. "I'll have to apologize to Hikaru, too," he muttered, closing up one of the access panels on the Stealth Hunter.

Turning, the engineer hopped off of the scaffold and glanced up at the huge battle machine. "One of these days I'll convince Sensei to let me pilot one of these things against the robots," He vowed.

He heard the door open behind him and turned around. Ha-Ya-To poked his head in. "Hey Ryo," He said, "What's up? I hear you exploded in the mess earlier today." He peeked around. "Have the computers been mean to you lately or something?"

"Not now," Ryo snapped, residual anger increasing at the reminder of the incident. Resisting the urge to chuck his wrench in the red-haired battle machine pilot's direction, he turned to face Ha-Ya-To. "What do you want?" he snapped, spinning back around to find a component to re-calibrate the structural integrity field in the Stealth Hunter's energy fusion system.

"Whoa," Ha-Ya-To exclaimed. "The ice king reigns. I'll just come back later."

"Oh no you don't!" Ryo snapped, turning around, striding across the room and catching Ha-Ya-To by his arm. "You came in here to ask me something, so _what is it?!_"

Ha-Ya-To cringed. "I was just… well, I was going to ask… if you…well…"

Ryo sighed. "Never mind. I don't have time for this." he let go, turned and grabbed a coil conduit and then turned back around. "I'm waiting," He said.

"Um, you know what? I'll ask later," Ha-Ya-To turned and fled from Ryo's lab. After he had left, Ryo happened to glance across the bay, where the hopelessly destroyed gate guardian stood. Smoldering, he turned to the very door Ha-Ya-To had just vanished through.

"I'm going to kill you!!" Ryo raged, brandishing his lucky wrench very much like a club.

Yes, it was definitely one of those days…

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Sorry the first Chappie's so short too... forgot to mention that up above...


	2. Another One of Those Days

A/N: I have to give a lot of credit with this fic to my beloved brother. Sure, we have our occasional spats, but we have it where it counts-- we really do like each other, and we plot brilliant stories! Anywho, if you like this, besure to give him a smattering of applause-- after all, he bought the lego sets that got me interested in the story. Read and REVIEW!! (Reviews make me happy. I finally discovered the reply feature, so now I can reply to them too! Isn't that exciting?)

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**Chapter 2: Another One of Those Days**

Sensei Keiken sighed. He was definitely having one of those days. First, Hikaru and Ha-Ya-To had stumbled into the regeneration station complaining of bruises, headaches and other calamities. After tending to the two pilots, Keiken headed to the Battle Machine hangar to check up on Ryo.

When he arrived, the first thing the Exo-Force leader had found was the Gate Guardian in a total state of disrepair, and the Stealth Hunter face down on the ground-- tools scattered everywhere. Sighing, Sensei Keiken glanced around, looking for the culprit of these and other disasters.

"Ryo!" Keiken called, casting his gaze around the hangar bay. Dozens of computers, on and not being used, each completing dozens of different processes and crunching numbers for the brilliant

"Over here," Finally, Keiken located a miserable form huddled up behind one of the Stealth Hunter's legs.

"Where?" Keiken asked, waiting to see if Ryo would tell him where.

"Behind the Stealth Hunter," Came the dismal reply. Ryo's head peeked out for a moment before sucking back behind the giant battle machine.

"What happened here?" Keiken asked gently, coming around the leg and staring down at the battle Machine Engineer, doing his best to ignore the tear-streaked cheeks.

"Stealth Hunter fell over," Ryo said simply, now sounding more frustrated than teary. "Stupid Hikaru! I could kill him if I wasn't more concerned about the preservation of human life."

"Why?" Keiken asked, trying to figure out exactly how this giant battle machine had managed to topple over. It wasn't particularly top-heavy…

Frowning, Ryo wondered why on earth Sensei was asking why he wanted to kill Hikaru. Frustrated that Sensei Keiken hadn't listened the first time, Ryo glanced up, eyes snapping angrily. "Because Hikaru's stupid," Ryo repeated.

Keiken's eyes widened. This problem was more serious than he'd originally thought. Clarifying his question, Sensei Keiken shook his head. "No, Why did Stealth Hunter fall over?"

"Because I kicked it," Ryo said, frowning and rubbing his booted foot. "Hard."

"Why did you kick it?" Keiken asked, careful not to allow the question to be misinterpreted.

"Because I hate my life," Ryo replied. "I hate everybody. I hate _you,_ Sensei."

Taking a deep breath, Sensei sighed, he wasn't angry at all. However, he was concerned, and slightly sympathetic of the young techie. Although Ryo was a very sensitive young man, Keiken had learned from experience that tough love often worked best with the mechanic. "You sound like a toddler." Keiken scolded, shaking his head.

"I know," Ryo snapped irritably. "That doesn't mean I care."

Standing, Sensei Keiken turned and walked away several steps before stopping and turning around. "There's no way to work with you when you're like this, Ryo."

"I know," Ryo muttered from where he sat, still hunched in the fetal position behind the Stealth Hunter's armor plated leg.

"What's wrong?" Keiken asked after a long moment of silence.

"Well…" Ryo sighed gustily, "it's just that-"

"Hello, anyone home?" Takeshi stuck his green head through the door, glancing around. "Sensei? What are you doing here? Where's Ryo?"

Ryo jumped to his feet, tools clattering from his lap to the floor. "What in the name of sanity do _you_ want Takeshi? Don't tell me you did something to your battle machine!" Ryo howled, looking ready to tear someone's head off.

Takeshi brightened at the prospect of working on the Grand Titan. "Well, actually, now that you mention it, I've been meaning to replace the--"

"_JUST SECURE THAT RIMA ORIS BEFORE I MURDER YOU!!_"Ryo yelled.

"Just take it easy," Takeshi suggested. "No harm done. You don't have to work on the Grand Titan if you don't want to. Besides, it looks like you have enough going on with the Stealth Hunter and Gate Guardian."

It goes without saying that Ryo didn't take to this news very well. In fact, he began flinging the tools scattered on the floor with the sole intent of impaling the Exo-Force pilot.

"What the-- Ack!" Takeshi choked as a screwdriver embedded itself in the wall beside his head.

Then Ryo charged, swinging his lucky wrench like a club. "_LEAVE THE JOB TO THE TECHIE AND STOP MAKING MORE WORK FOR ME!!_" He howled, swinging it in the direction of the green-haired pilot.

Quite aware of the imminent danger, Sensei Keiken grabbed the wrench from behind, which caused an instant stop on Ryo's part. With a cry of surprise, the purple-haired Techie thudded backwards to the floor, landing hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Keiken turned to Takeshi who, with nary a whimper on his part, promptly fainted.

Keiken sighed and glanced down at Ryo, lying flat on his back and gasping for breath.

"Try and get some work done. I'll be seeing you soon. This warrants a discussion."

Ryo had no doubt this 'discussion' would end with him being stuck in the brig for a month. Still gasping for breath, the engineer tried to explain, but Sensei Keiken would have none of it. With a grunt, the Exo-Force leader lifted Takeshi and carried him out of the lab, slamming the door.

Sensei never slammed doors.

With a whimper, Ryo rolled over and tucked his knees into his chest, taking small breaths. _Calm down,_ the rational side of his brain implored._ You're overreacting. This is pointless, anyway._ The thought didn't seem to help much. _Then why did they have to start it?!_ Ryo wondered angrily.

Ryo stared in disgust at the Stealth Hunter. "Better get this done," Ryo whined in a mimicry of Hikaru's voice. "After all, Hikaru has practice to do within the hour, and heaven knows we'll need _Hikaru_ to show us how _everything's_ done around here," With a sigh, Ryo pried yet another glob of fused wires from the cockpit of the Stealth Hunter.

Then an idea crept into Ryo's mind. Shaking his head, the Techie tried to push the idea from his mind. _No need for pranks,_ he thought. _But he's such a know-it-all,_ he thought back at himself. _Besides, this wouldn't hurt anything. It's not dangerous, just… well, sort of annoying to him. Let's see, if I tweak the stabilizers slightly and empty a little bit from the fuel tanks…_

Grinning, the engineer quickly got back to work-- this time in a much better mood…

When Ryo arrived in Sensei Keiken's quarters, he immediately realized he was the last one to arrive. Grinning sheepishly, he wiped the oil on his hands off of them and onto his already quite dirty uniform. Glancing at Sensei Keiken, the engineer spoke up. "Well, I've finally decided that my tantrum was the result of hormone imbalance and a lack of nutrients."

Sensei Keiken nodded silently, then cleared his throat. "Don't you think you owe these three something?" He said, gesturing in the direction of three Exo-Force Pilots.

Frowning in confusion, Ryo thought. _I wonder how much money would be compensation for the injuries… Sensei knows I don't have money! What does he mean, I owe… oh, yeah. _"Sorry," Ryo apologized, glancing down at the ground. In return, the three pilots glared at the techie. Ha-Ya-To with his scratched face, bruised arm and fat lip. Hikaru with his black eye and sore nose. Takeshi with his loss of dignity.

"Now then, let's get down to business," Sensei Keiken suggested, clearing his throat. "Firstly--" Whatever else he said was cut off by the warning klaxons of a Robot attack. Shaking his head, the Leader changed his tune. "All pilots to your battle machines!" Keiken ordered.

Ryo's eyes widened in horror. _Oh no! I forgot to change the 'upgrades' back in their battle machines!!_ The engineer turned to where Keiken had been standing. "Wait, they aren't-- Sensei?!" But the four others were already gone. Ryo scrambled wildly for the door and dashed out, face paling at the thought of what the pilots were heading out to face… disaster, and an army of robots to boot!!

Screeching to a halt as he entered the Hangar, Ryo was too late to stop the three pilots. "NO!!" Ryo screamed, "STOP!!" but the roar of dozens of battle machines lifting off drowned out the engineer's cries.


	3. I call it Uplink

A/N: Wow. this one is so much shorter than my other fics. Hmmm. Anywho, enjoy the ending, and it's now open for a sequel, whenever I get around to it. hee-hee...

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**Chapter 3: I call it Uplink**

For a moment Ryo could do nothing but watch in frozen horror as the Grand Titan ran out of the hangar leaking joint fluid like water leaked from the pipes under the kitchen sink. Behind it, the Stealth hunter took to the air, leaving most of its armor behind. The Gate Guardian still looked pretty good… until you noticed it's lack of backup power cells and boosters on the back-- these lay on the floor where it had previously been standing. With a shriek that could have deafened a bat, Ryo dropped to his knees. _It was just a prank!_ He thought. _This wasn't supposed to happen!_

Ryo stood slowly, then turned in the direction of the communicator station located across the hangar. Quickly he dashed across the cement floor, activated his communicator and tried to contact Hikaru. "Hikaru! You need to get out ot there!" He yelled desperately. "It's not fixed yet!"

"_We don't all have time to lollygag like _**you **_Ryo," _Hikaru snapped. _"The Stealth Hunter's fine!"_

"No!! No, you don't under--" Ryo stared in shock. "He cut me off!" He exclaimed. Frowning, he quickly switched the channel and tried to inform Takeshi of his imminent disaster. "You need to come in now or you never will!" Ryo shouted. "You're leaking joint fluid all over the place!"

"_What?!"_ Takeshi shouted, _"I can't hear you over these Thunder Furies' attack. In a minute, Okay?"_

"You don't_ have _a minute!" Ryo screamed, only to be cut off a second time. Frantically, Ryo tried to contact Ha-Ya-To. Before he could even speak, the Pilot cut him off with horrible news.

"_Ryo, please! I need your help! The Gate Guardian's out of power and I'm practically surrounded by sentries!"_

"I know!" Ryo wailed. "Give me a minute to think!"

"_I don't have a minute!!" _Ha-Ya-To screamed back. _"I've got Iron Drones practically crawling all over me! I need something _now!!

Panting, Ryo stumbled away from the communicator station in a daze. _Well, what am I supposed to do?_ He thought angrily. _Sensei won't let me leave here, he thinks I'm to valuable back here, and_… Ryo frowned. _But what if he didn't know it was me?_

Ryo backed up, examining the huge battle machines. He knew the controls of most machines, but they were all so huge… Frowning, the Engineer stepped back and bumped into the leg of another battle machine, hidden under a tarp. Turning, Ryo glanced up at it, a smile spreading across his face…

By the time Ryo had gotten into the small, orange armor-plated battle machine the situation outside was messier than one of his labs when he was putting together a new project. Exo-Force battle machines were dropping from the sky like flies over Takeshi's cooking. Not that it's bad, but Ryo actually preferred slop to anything Takeshi had been close to with a stove and a spatula.

Ha-ya-to was crouched behind the remains of the Stealth hunter, desperately firing a hand laser and cringing with every step closer the sentries took. Takeshi's Grand Titan could barely move because of its loss of joint fluid, and the green-Haired pilot was shouting at the control board. _As if that could possibly improve his situation!_ Ryo thought. Glancing around to see where the Stealth Hunter's pilot was, he grimace when he finally located Hikaru trying to fix his Battle Machine.

Shaking his head, Ryo turned to face the Thunder Fury headed in his direction. With a burst of energy, the Battle Machine exploded. Grinning, Ryo turned to face the sentries, ignoring the call for retreat echoing in every Exo-force Pilot's communicator. After all, he was beginning to enjoy this…with a few blasts of his laser cannon, the sentries were no longer something to worry about. Ignoring the steady stream of pilots heading back to Sentai fortress, Ryo moved forward.

With an explosion rivaled only by the temper tantrum he'd had earlier in the day, a Fire Vulture plummeted to the ground, never to fly again. Ryo couldn't help shouting in excitement. This was _awesome!_ After taking down several large machines, Ryo once again turned to the Sentries, not realizing he was the only pilot still outside. However, within minutes, the tide had turned. The robots began to retreat and the Exo-Force pilots returned to the battlefield with vigor.

Together with a few other pilots, Ryo pursued the robots until they were far, _far_ away from Sentai fortress. Then, along with Several other Pilots, he slowly returned to the Hangar, positive he was going to be stuck in the brig for a year, thanks to his shenanigan. Shaking his head, Ryo grinned. _It was worth it, _He thought.

Back in the hanger, Dozens of Exo-Force pilots speculated on who had led them to victory.

"It must have been Hikaru. Only he could use a strategy like that without being afraid of losing," one pilot said.

"No, only Takeshi would bust in like that," another argued.

"It can't be either of them," an engineer said from behind them, pointing. "Look, that's both of them over there, isn't it?"

The pilots stared in amazement. "Then it must have been Ha-Ya-To," one finally stammered.

"What must have been me?" Ha-Ya-To asked. Then, turning to the engineer, he frowned. "Where's Ryo? I thought he was coming to help me with the Gate guardian. Instead, I had to be saved by _Hikaru._ Do you know what that does to my self esteem?!"

One of the pilots glared at him before replying. "Nothing. Your self esteem is indestructible in it's magnificence."

Just then, the orange Battle Machine walked into the hangar, smoking and leaking joint fluid.

Hikaru and Takeshi Joined Ha-Ya-To to stare. "Do you think it's Shinji?" Hikaru asked after a moment. "He's pretty good."

Ha-Ya-To shrugged. "Maybe it's someone else."

Everyone watched as the cockpit shield lowered and Ryo jumped out.

Hikaru nearly fell over. "No way!" he gasped.

"No way!!" Ryo shouted to himself from across the hangar. Because of the absolute silence when he'd gotten out, his voice carried throughout the entire room. "I just finished it today, and it _already_ needs fixing!!"

After a moment, a few engineers began to applaud, followed by Most of the pilots, with three exceptions. "He sabotaged us," Hikaru whispered. Ha-Ya-To and Takeshi nodded. _Mark my words, Techie,_ Hikaru thought angrily, _this isn't the end of the story…_

Through the applause, cries of "Great work!" and "Nice job!" could be heard through the crowd. Ryo had never felt better. He grinned, then frowned anxiously. "Hey, why aren't you telling me what's wrong with your machines?!" he demanded, "Kenji, your poor machine looks like it lost a few anti-combustion nacelles. That's really dangerous," he scolded, dashing across the room to fetch his tools. "I'll be right back!" he cried.

As the crowd slowly dispersed, Sensei Keiken stepped into the room, and watched Ryo work on a Battle Machine for a few minutes before walking over. "Ryo," he said softly, "Care to explain what happened?"

Ryo glanced up, sighed and looked at the floor. "After I had to go back and fix Hikaru, Takeshi and Ha-Ya-To's battle machines, I was so frustrated I decided to play a prank on them. Training was in an hour, so I mixed up a few processes…" Ryo sighed. "It was nothing life threatening-- unless you're fighting robots," Ryo admitted.

Sensei Keiken nodded. "I think you owe them a heartfelt apology, don't you?"

Ryo nodded. "Yeah."

Smiling, Sensei Keiken sat down beside the engineer. "Now, if you wouldn't mind answering a few questions?"

Ryo looked at him. "Sure," he said. "What?"

"Where did you get the new battle machine?" Sensei asked.

"Oh, I've been working on it for awhile," Ryo said, "to maybe show you so I could… you know, pilot a battle machine?"

Sensei nodded. "I see. What are you planning on calling it?"

"Oh, I already named it," Ryo said proudly, "I call it Uplink."


End file.
